A Mind of His Own: Gadget's Replacement
by GingerbreadTARDIS99
Summary: A sequel to "The Quiz Master" and "The Haunted House". Reading them isn't necessary, but is recommended. (IG)
1. Unpleasant Promotion

**Ok. Two things.**

 **One: I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!**

 **Two: Sorry this is being uploaded THREE MONTHS after AMoHO: THH! I did not plan for it to take that long! Ugh! Anyways, since I have no idea if you guys are checking my profile or not, I'm just going to tell you here. This sequel is the last one I'll be posting on FanFiction. _However_ , that doesn't mean AMoHO is coming to a close. No, I'll be posting more stories on DeviantArt. ****Why am I doing this? Because I kinda want to do a little trilogy-thing with AMoHO taking place in the 1980's "Inspector Gadget", with those other stories I mentioned just something for fun on the side.**

 **So what will happen after this fic is completed? Well, one of two things. Right now, there is _hopefully_ a poll on my profile entitled "Which 'Inspector Gadget' spinoff would you want me to do a fanfic of in the future?" (if there isn't, let me know (and if I'm unable to fix it, leave your vote in the reviews.).). There are two options and I'm going to explain them here:**

 **1. Inspector Gadget 2015 (Penny's POV): "Why will this fic be centered around Penny? I thought everything took place in Inspector Gadget's gadget's perspective?" Well, in the _original_ series it does, but doing the same in the 2015 spin-off would be _very_ difficult. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, IG2015 is more about Penny than it is Gadget; this means the beloved inspector doesn't have a whole lot of screen time for me to work with. Add to the fact that the episodes are only eleven minutes long, and yeah. Penny would be the star if you guys chose this one. This fic would not take place during an episode; it would be set after Season 2 of IG2015, be rated between K+ and T, and would be more dramatic that humorous.**

 **2. Gadget and the Gadgetinis ("Gadget's" POV): For those of you who might have been on my DeviantArt profile and have seen "Really, Gadget Fans?", I know what you're thinking: "If you hate GatG, then why are going to write a fic about it?!" Well just because _I'm_ not a huge fan of it, doesn't mean _everyone else_ isn't as well. Besides, I know quite a few people who don't like the 2015 spin-off, so think of this as me "balancing the scales". To put it simply, it's just like AMoHO, but I'll be using GatG episodes instead of episodes from IG. This will be a trilogy as well, but I won't post side stories of this on DeviantArt.**

 **The poll will be closed once I upload the epilogue for this story. And since life right now is making the upload rate _extremely_ slow right now, you guys will have plenty of time to make you decision.**

 **Anyways, the episode this takes place in was suggested by Guest, whose English I think is not too shabby. As usual, I recommend watching "Gadget's Replacement" before reading this fanfic.**

 **Now enough of this super long author's note! Happy reading!**

* * *

It's midnight. I'm positive of that. That round thing is high up in the sky.

Sorry. I mean "the moon". I still struggle remembering things at times.

Anyways, Inspector is driving in the GM1.0 to the police station. Chief Q. called possibly a few minutes ago for Inspector to come to the station. To my knowledge, he didn't specifically say _why_ Inspector needed to come over, but I have a strong feeling that it might be a mission. But even that doesn't sound right; Chief Q. always comes to Inspector whenever there is an assignment, not the other way around.

I wonder what's going on…

Oh, we've arrived.

Inspector parks the GM1.0 outside the police station entrance and steps out of the vehicle. Although the street lights are rather dim through Inspector's eyes, I can make out the silhouettes of the city buildings, and the yellow light coming through the windows of the station. I can't see those tin–I mean "stars"–in the sky, so I'm guessing its cloudy tonight.

Like any good officer of the law, Inspector examines his surroundings, and begins to sneak toward the back of the station. He leans against the wall, checks again, and continues until he reaches a back door.

Throughout all of this, I can't help but wonder if Inspector closed the door to the GM1.0 or not.

Oh well. If Inspector comes back and finds no GM1.0, then that will answer _that_ question.

Once more, Inspector looks around to make sure he isn't watched, and lifts the lid of a nearby trashcan, which is green in color. He pears down and pulls out a fishbone someone threw in there. I sense a little bit of disgust.

"Yuck!"

Oh please! You've gotten yourself in more disgusting situations before.

Inspector tosses the fishbone into the pitch-black darkness.

"Whew!"

Wimp.

Inspector takes one more close examination of his surroundings before he jumps into the trashcan, closing the lid behind him. Now I know what you're thinking: "Is Inspector _that_ much of an idiot?! How did he ever join the police in the first place?!" Well, this isn't any ordinary trashcan; it's a _special_ trashcan. You see, inside is actually a tube system that leads to a secret room in the station. These little guys are all over the place, and I can't tell you how many times Inspector has used them.

Speaking of which, I don't remember the tubes being this narrow or twisty. Inspector is showing some discomfort and slight dizziness. Once he reaches the end, he flies out of what I think is a hatch, and falls to the floor butt first. Not long after that, he ends up lying on the floor on his back.

Poor Inspector.

Because that unfortunate trip has left Inspector a bit disoriented, I can't register the surroundings all that well, all I know is that Chief Q. is in the room with us, but that doesn't give me anything to work with. After all, to me, he's just making noise. After a moment or so afterwards, Inspector clears his head. From what I can now make out, I'm in a room with green walls and ceiling, dark blue floor, and grey objects all over the place. Oh wait, they're all part of a huge computer. Standing in the middle of it all is Chief Q., having his arms up in the air.

Wait a minute.

Is he… _smiling?!_

I'm going to be honest, I haven't seen Chief Q. this excited since, well, ever! Even Inspector is a bit confused as to what is going on.

Hm? What's that?

Hold on for a moment. Inspector is telling me something.

…

"The Computer Age"?

You should probably translate what Chief Q. is saying so I know what's going on.

…

Whoa.

 _That_ is one heck of a computer.

I mean, come on! This thing is covering up the entire wall! It's got lights, switches, everything! Even a butt-kicking screen for crying out loud! I'm not intimidated by it though; there is not a single piece of machinery in the world that is highly advanced and conveniently small at the same time as me. While the majority of it is grey, it also has some reds, blues, and greens.

Huh?

…

So, this thing is CC10121983. It figures out [M~A~D]'s plans and sends police officers to the scene before the crimes happen? I must say, that's pretty advanced.

"Man vs. machine. Looks impressive Chief Q.! It will be a valuable addition to the force!"

I agree. Who knows? Maybe someday we can prevent crimes from happening altogether in the future!

Oh, Chief Q. is talking again.

…

Um, Inspector?...

…Inspector, what did Chief Q. say?...

 _ **WHAT?!**_

 _ **REPLACEMENT?!**_

 _ **THIS**_ –N-no. N-n-no. Th-they can't-…

…

…I should probably retract my neck and arms.

"WOWZERS! But Chief Q.! Fighting crime is my whole life! Besides, what can this machine do that I can't?"

A- _ha_! Yes! Very good point, Inspector! Maybe _that_ will convince him to let you stay.

"Can it do this?"

Oh. Um…let's try this. I extend my left arm and grab hold of red potted flowers, which were located at the other side of the room. I proceed to retract my arm, and Inspector takes a sniff. Afterwards, he hands on of the flowers to Chief Q.

Take that, CC10121983!

"Or this?"

Uh, ok. How about this? I begin to extend my legs, but I extend too far and I cause Inspector to hit his head on the ceiling. A few chucks fall off.

That didn't go as planned.

I retract my legs while extending and retracting my neck for good measure.

"And what good is a computer without hat gadgets?"

Hat gadgets? How about my helicopter? I give Inspector my helicopter, and the blades begin to spin, causing Inspector to hover in the air and knock Chief Q. into one of the crime computer's body parts. He doesn't sound too happy.

I don't think this is working.

But Inspector isn't giving up yet. He gives me back my helicopter, and I continue to show Chief Q. my stuff.

"Gadget Mallet, Gadget Umbrella, Gadget Phone,…"

Slowly, I'm beginning to realize that both Inspector and I are doomed. Chief Q. doesn't look like he's changing his mind anytime soon. In fact, he's looking more impatient by the minute.

…it was always [AN-GEL] and Dog(?) who did the world-saving anyways…

"…Gadget Magnifying Glass,–"

Chief Q. finally interrupts Inspector. To his credit though, he did it in a calm tone of voice. Chief Q. was always very patient with Inspector no matter how many times he got on his nerves. Hence, I have a fair amount of respect for him.

…

Well of course CC10121983 can do things Inspector can't. It's a computer! Last I checked, humans didn't talk in binary code. Inspector isn't feeling very self-confident though.

"Like what, Chief Q.?!"

Chief Q. doesn't answer Inspector's question right away. Rather, he demonstrates the computer's capability. He walks up to the control panel of CC10121983, presses down on a yellow button, and speaks through a…a…

Inspector, what is that?

Oh, right. A microphone.

As Chief Q. talks to CC10121983, I'm able to understand what he's saying. Not perfectly though. I'm more eavesdropping than anything. Kind of like listening to your parent's "private" conversation through the wall without a cup.

Hey! It's not my fault that CC10121983 is practically broadcasting Chief Q.'s orders to every machine build by man!

"Lo01100011at01100101 th01100101 Fi01110010st Ca01110000it01100001l Ba01101110k."

CC10121983's screen flickers into static and then shows the First Capital Bank, although its transmission isn't perfect. Inspector pays close attention to the screen.

"Se01101110d Ca01110010 86 t01101111 th01100101 ma01101001n do01101111rs o01100110 th01100101 ba01101110k."

As obedient as a machine can be, CC10121983 gives out commands to the force.

"01000011 01100001 01110010 00100000 00111000 00110110 00101110 01010000 01110010 01101111 01100011 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01000110 01101001 01110010 01110011 01110100 00100000 01001110 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01000010 01100001 01101110 01101011 00101110 00001010 01000001 01110111 01100001 01100001 01101001 01110100 00100000 01100110 01110101 01110010 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 0100000 01101111 01110010 001100100 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101111 01110010 01110011 00101110"

…I should probably translate.

It said, "Car 86. Proceed to First Capital Bank. Await further orders by main doors."

As almost impossible speed, Car 86 arrived at the bank, and two police officers jumped out. They ran out to the main doors, and stood there on guard until told otherwise.

"That's impressive Chief Q."

Chief Q. replies with something I can't make out. Whatever it was, it hit Inspector hard. I'm sure what Chief Q. said wasn't in ill intent. But I still help Inspector with the ruse that he's confused instead of emotionally hurt anyways.

"Di01110011mi01110011s Ca01110010 86. Te01101100l th01100101m th01100101 Ca01110000it01100001l Ba01101110k i01110011 a fa01101100se al01100001rm."

"01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110000 011101100 01100001 01101100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01010011 01110111 01100101 01100100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01010011 01110100 01101111 01100011 01101011 01101000 01101111 01101100 01101101 00101110 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110000 01101001 01110100 01100001 01101100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01000101 0110110 01100111 01101100 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 010001100 01101111 01101110 01100100 01101111 01101110 00101110"

Uhh, I don't think Chief Q. asked CC10121983 to name the capitals of England or Sweden.

"Th01100001t wi01101100l d01101111! No01110111 di01110011mi01110011s Ca01110010 86!"

" 01000101 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01111001 00101101 01110011 01101001 01111000 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110110 01101001 01100100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01110100 01110111 01101111 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 0111011 01111001 0010110 01110100 01101000 01110010 01100101 01100101 00101110 00100000 01000101 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01111001 00101101 01110011 01101001 01111000 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110110 01101001 01100100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01110010 01100101 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110111 01100101 01101110 01110100 01111001 00101101 01100101 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01110111 01101111 00101101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110010 01100100 01110011 00101110"

Now it's dividing eighty-six by two and three.

For an advanced computer, it isn't very obedient.

Although, to be fair, I'm a bit ornery myself.

But hold on here! A very important police force is replacing the best inspector on the planet for a faulty crime computer?! _What kind of crazy world am I in?!_

…

Oh, that's only a bug. But still! What has this planet come to?

Inspector follows Chief Q. to his desk and watches him as he calls in some repairmen. After that, Inspector reaches out his hand, and Chief Q. shakes it.

"Well Chief Q., I think I will be on my way. If you ever need my services, don't hesitate to call. And good luck with your computer."

Well I-WOWZERS! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

Oh. It was the repairmen. They smacked Inspector with the door and have him sandwiched between door and wall.

That had to hurt.

Inspector? Are you alright? I know you weren't expecting all of this and-

"Nothing last forever…"

…

You can cut the act, Inspector. I'm upset too.


	2. Job Search

**Hey guys! Sorry this upload took forever (exams + bronchitis = slow writing). But don't worry! I don't have school until January 4, and I'm pretty sure my bronchitis is gone (Because ain't nobody got time for that!). I'm hoping that I'll have another chapter uploaded for you guys before my break is over.**

 **Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) and enjoy!**

* * *

Morning has never felt so depressing until now. Heck! If I didn't remind Inspector about [AN-GEL], he probably would have stayed in bed all day. He seemed to be a bit better after that; he dressed himself as usual and even surprised [AN-GEL] and Dog(?) with waffles. Of course, he had to tell them what happened last night when [AN-GEL] was suspicious as to why he wasn't at work.

I don't think anyone at the table even ate half of their plate.

Inspector got depressed again after breakfast, and both Dog(?) and [AN-GEL] are silently comforting him as of now.

"My career is over. Now that my skills can't be used to fight crime, they won't be good for anything!"

He's right you know. Through all my time with him, all Inspector has done is stop [M~A~D] and their terrorist schemes. He was trained for dangerous situations. How is that going to be useful in the normal world?!

Oh wow. I just realized how weird that sounded.

[AN-GEL] tells Inspector not to worry, and that there are other jobs that he'll be good at. She then tells Dog(?) to fetch the "help wanted" ads. Dog(?) obeys like the good…thing he is, and returns with the newspaper, dropping it on the table. Inspector straightens it out from its rolled-up state, and quickly scans the section of the newspaper.

While you're looking, try to find something that requires neck-snapping. You need let out your frustrations somehow.

I sense Inspector in a happier mood. He proceeds to tear off the "help wanted" ads from the newspaper.

"Well, as I always say, if the going gets rough, the tough get goIIINNNGGG!"

Wait! What happened?!

Why are you lying in the floor?!

You know what? I'm not even going to question it. At this point, I'm giving up on understanding Inspector's quirks.

Inspector shrugs, stuffs the ads in his pocket, and jumps to his feet, still in a chipper mood.

"Somebody's got to pay the rent around here. It might as well be me."

But you've always been the one who pays the rent! I distinctly remember you doing it over a thousand times!

Man, those are hours of my life I'll never get back.

Inspector walks to the-

Um, Inspector?

Inspector? That's not the-

Inspector!

Inspector…walks into the closet.

I'm pretty sure I would be grumbling right now if I was able to.

Dog(?) opens the door just as Inspector realizes his mistake.

"Heh heh heh heh, a-hm."

Inspector walks out of the closet and-

…

WHAT THE [^ !#!] ARE YOU DOING?!

Pardon my language, but seriously! You are leaving your house, not approaching a secret entrance!

Finally, Inspector approaches the back door and sneaks out at lightening speeds.

Either he's acting weirder than usual, or this replacement business has gotten to him more than I thought.

I sure hope it's the former.

…

Is this what normal people do? They work at shoe stores and help people find shoe sizes?

I don't see any opportunity for neck-snapping here.

"I assure you madam, this shoe is too small for you!"

Oh! I should probably explain what's going on. Inspector works at a shoe store now. He's helping a woman find a new pair of shoes. And good grief she has big feet! I swear she could crush a rat like a bug with those things! She doesn't sound happy though. She must be insisting that the shoe fits.

Lady. Being self-confident about your size is one thing; denial is another.

I'm not blaming Inspector one bit for becoming annoyed. I, myself, am not a huge fan of people, minus a few choice persons of course. The Inspector scratches his chin, trying to find a way around the situation.

"Then this calls for extreme measures."

'Extreme measures'? What 'extreme measures'? This is a shoe store, not a top secret mission! Although I guess my shoe horn might help a _little_ bit.

"Allow me."

Inspector holds her foot while I try to jam it in the shoe with my shoe horn. It's…not working. And Inspector is not picking up a single hint no matter how loud this lady screams.

You have no idea how badly I want to rub my temples if I had any right now.

"A perfect size four. Not bad for my first customer."

Huh?

…

I don't believe it. We actually got it to fit!

Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought it would be.

Oh look. It's that guy who gave us the job. I believe his name was {B-O-S-S}. Not too bad of a higher-up, but he's no Chief Q.

…Aaaaand he doesn't look the bit happy.

Oh no.

H-Hey! What are you doing?! Put Inspector down!

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

Inspector is now flying out the shoe store and onto the street. He seems a bit disoriented from the impact, but no major injuries.

What was that for?! We didn't do anything wrong! We got the shoe to fit, didn't we?! Why I ought to–

Hm? Did {B-O-S-S} say something?

…

Washing dishes?

"That's not a bad idea."

Maybe. But first things first, you might want to get off the road. I don't want you to be run over by a truck.

Oh, hi Dog(?). He's wearing a lot of green, so I assume he's keeping an eye on Inspector. Dog(?) helps him up onto his feet, and dusts his shoulders.

"Thank you sir. At least some people have manners."

See? This is why I like Dog(?). No matter what he goes through, he's always there to help Inspector.

Speaking of Inspector, he pulls out the "help wanted" add from the paper, and begins to scan for any dish washing jobs. His eyes rest at one of the adds, and he reads out loud to himself.

"Hmmm…waiter wanted…"

I guess that's a winner.

I circle the add with a red pen in my right hand, and Inspector walks to his next job.

Don't worry, Inspector. That last job wasn't all that great anyways.

…

You know, unless Inspector gets a job as a gangster, I don't think he'll be snapping necks anytime soon.

Anyways, Inspector is washing dishes at a fancy restaurant. And boy did they need him! There are piles of dishes that are going through the roof! And may I add that they look pretty nasty as well. What do they serve people here? Garbage?

I guess it's a good thing then that loves to make things clean and spotless. He's inspecting one of the dishes as I speak. I'll help him a bit by lending him by magnifying glass.

"A job worth doing is worth doing well, that's what I always say."

Words to live by, Inspector. Words to live by.

Seems the plate passed the inspection. I use my left hand to place it on top of a tall pile of clean dishes. I'm quite surprised that it hasn't fallen over yet.

To be honest, this is kind of relaxing. No running around, no worrying about keeping Inspector in one piece, and no more [M~A~D] agents. I can recall a few pleasant memories of when Inspector had previously washed dishes. I think we finally found the perfect job!

Then again, there are those piles of dirty dishes that never seem to go away. At least at home, there aren't hundreds of people eating Inspector's cooking.

"Uh-oh."

Don't tell me you just said 'uh-oh'. Nothing good ever comes out of an 'uh-oh'. What is it that is making you say 'uh-oh'?!

…Uh-oh.

Remember that pile of dishes that I talked about earlier?

Well, they're falling over.

"WoooOOOAAAaaahhh!"

TAKE COVER!

…

Here. Let me take this plate off you. And this plate…and this plate…and this plate…GOOD GREIF! HOW MANY PLATES ARE THERE?!

…

…we're so fired.

And there he is, {B-O-S-S 2.0}. He looks even madder than {B-O-S-S}! Inspector doesn't seem to notice however, as he just found an in-tact teacup and placed it on top of an in-tact plate.

"These dishes are spotless."

Nice try, buddy. We're still fired.

{B-O-S-S 2.0} grabs Inspector by the collar of his trench coat, carries him across the dining area, and throws him out onto the street. Inspector doesn't seem to be dazed like last time though. In fact, he's rather annoyed and…angry.

If there is one thing you need to know about Inspector, is that he's never angry. If you _ever_ see him angry, then you know something's wrong.

Fortunately, it doesn't dwell for long. Inspector dusts himself off once again, and returns to the "help wanted" section.

"Well, the restaurant business is not exactly what I had in mind."

Might as well cross that job off.

Don't give up hope, Inspector! The next job will be a keeper! I'm sure of it!

…

Aaaahhhh, the city. If I could, I would smell that fresh body odor.

Inspector has just been hired as a window washer for a pretty fancy apartment building. {B-O-S-S 3.0} doesn't look all that friendly, but I'm not worried. If he ever tries to mess with Inspector, then he'll have to deal with me.

I just hope we don't get fired again.


End file.
